CHAPTER XXVI - At Bay
“Gregg, you're safe!"
She had heard the
camp corridors resounding with the shouts that Wilks and Haljan were fighting.
She had come upon a suit and helmet by the manual emergency lock, had run out
through the lock, confused, with her only idea to stop Wilks and me from
fighting. Then she had seen one of us killed. Impulsive, barely knowing what
she was doing, she mounted the stairs, frantic to find if I were alive.
"Anita!"
Miko was coming!
She had not seen him: for she had no thought of brigands—only the belief that
either Wilks or I had been killed.
But now, as for
an instant we stood together on the rocks near the observation platform, I
could see the towering figure of Miko nearing the top of the stairs.
"Anita,
that's Miko! We must run."
Then I saw my
bullet projector. It lay in a bowl-like depression quite near us. I jumped for
it. And as I tore loose from Anita, she leaped down after me. It was a broken
bowl in the rocks, some six feet deep. It was open on the side facing the
staircase—a narrow, ravinelike gully, full of gray, broken, tumbled
rock-masses. The little gully was littered with crags and boulders. But I could
see out through it.
Miko had come to
the head of the staircase. He stopped there, his great figure etched sharply by
the Earthlight. I think he must have known that Coniston was the one who had
fallen over the cliff, as my helmet and Coniston's were different enough for
him to recognize which was which. He did not know who I was, but he did know me
for an enemy.
He stood now at the summit, peering to see where we
had gone. He was no more than fifty feet from us.
"Anita, lie
down."
I pulled her down
on the rocks. I took aim with the bullet projector. But I had forgotten our
helmet-lights. Miko must have seen them just as I pulled the trigger. The
flying bullet missed him as he jumped sidewise. He dropped, but I could see him
moving in the shadows to where a jutting rock gave him shelter. I fired again.
"Gregg."
I had stood up to
take aim. I saw the bullet chip a bit of rock. Anita pulled me sharply down
beside her.
"Gregg, he's
armed!"
It was his turn
to fire. It came—the familiar vague flash of the paralyzing ray. It spat its
tint of color on the rocks near us, but could not reach us.
Miko rose a
moment later and bounded to another rock. I scrambled up, and shot at him, but
missed. Then he crouched and returned my fire from his new angle; but Anita and
I had shifted.
Time passed—only
a few moments. I could not see Miko momentarily. Perhaps he was crouching;
perhaps he had moved away again. He was, or had been, on slightly higher ground
than the bottom of our bowl. It was dim down here where we were lying, but I
feared that every moment Miko might appear and strike at us. His ray at any
short range would penetrate our visor-panes, even though our suits might
temporarily resist it.
"Anita—it's
too dangerous here."
Had I been alone,
I might perhaps have leaped up to lure Miko. But with Anita I did not dare
chance it.
"We've got
to get back to the camp," I told her. The audiphone brought her comment:
"Perhaps he
has gone."
But he had not. We saw him again, out in a distant
patch of Earthlight. He was further from us than before, but on still higher
ground. We had extinguished our small helmet-lights. But he knew we were here,
and possibly he could see us. His projector flashed again. But we had again
shifted, and were untouched. He was a hundred feet or more away now. His weapon
was of longer range than mine. I did not answer his fire, for I could not hope
to hit him at such a distance, and the flash of my weapon would help him with
his aim.
I murmured to
Anita, "We must get out of here."
Yet how did I
dare take Anita from these concealing shadows? Miko could reach us so easily as
we bounded away, in plain view in the Earthlight of the open summit! We were
caught, at bay in this little bowl.
The camp from
here was not visible. But out through the broken gully, beyond the staircase
top, a white beam of light suddenly came up from below.
"Haljan."
It spelled the
signal.
"Haljan."
It was coming
from the Grantline instrument room, I knew.
I could answer it
with my helmetlight, but I did not dare. I hesitated.
"Try
it," urged Anita.
We crouched where we thought we might be safe from
Miko's fire. My little light-beam shot up from the bowl. It was undoubtedly
visible to the camp.
"Yes? I am
Haljan."
And I added:
"Help! Send
us help."
I did not mention
Anita. Miko could doubtless read these signals. And in the camp they must have
missed Anita by now. They answered:
"Cannot—"
I lost the rest
of it. There came a flash from Miko's weapon. But it gave us confidence. He
could not reach us at the moment.
The Grantline
beam repeated:
"Cannot come
out. Portes broken. You cannot get in. Stay where you are—an hour or two. We
may be able to repair portes."
The portes were
broken! Stay here an hour or two! But I could not hold this position against
Miko that long! Sooner or later he would find a place from where he could sweep
this bowl beyond possibility of our hiding. I saw him running now, well beyond
my range, to ferret out another point of vantage.
I extinguished my
light. What use was it to tell Grantline anything further? Besides, my light
was dangerous.
But the Grantline
beam spelled another message:
"The brigand
ship is coming! It will be here before we can get out to you! No lights! We
will try and hide our location."
And the
signal-beam brought a last appeal to me:
"Miko and
his men will divulge where we are. Unless you can stop them—"
The beam
vanished. The lights of the Grantline camp made a faint glow that showed above
the crater-edge. The glow died, as the camp now was plunged into darkness.
CHAPTER XXVII - Anita's Plan
We crouched in the shadows, the Earthlight filtering
down to us. The skulking figure of Miko had vanished; but he was out there
somewhere on the crags I was sure, lurking, maneuvering to where he could
strike us with his ray. Anita's metal-gloved hand was on my arm; in my ear
diaphragm her voice sounded eager and unmistakable:
"What was
the signal, Gregg?"
She could not
read the semaphore lights. I told her.
"Oh Gregg,
the Martian ship coming!"
Her mind clung to
that as the most important thing. But not so myself. To me there was only the
realization that Anita was caught out here, almost at the mercy of Miko's ray.
Grantline's men could not get out to help us, nor could I get Anita into the
camp.
She added,
"Where do you suppose the ship is? In telescopic view?"
"Yes—twenty
or thirty thousand miles up, probably."
The stars and the
Earth were visible over us. Somewhere up there disclosed by Grantline's
instrument but not yet discernible to the naked eye, Miko's reinforcements were
hovering.
I stood up
cautiously to try and locate Miko. Immediately I saw him. He jumped as though
fearing my coming bullet, and I dropped back, barely avoiding his flash, which
swept across the top of our bowl.
"Gregg—Gregg,
don't take such a chance!"
We lay for a
moment in silence. It was horribly nerve-straining. Miko could be creeping up
on us. Would he dare chance my sudden fire? Creeping—or would he make a swift,
unexpected rush?
The feeling that
he was upon us abruptly swept me. I jumped to my feet, against Anita's effort
to hold me. But again Miko had vanished. Where was he now?
I sank back.
"That ship will be here in a few hours."
I told her what
Grantline's signal had suggested: the ship was hovering overhead. It must be
fairly close; for Grantline's telescope had revealed its identity as a bandit
flyer, unmarked by any of the standard code-identification lights. It was
doubtless too far away as yet to have located the whereabouts of Grantline's
camp. The Martian brigands knew that we were in the vicinity of Archimedes, but
no more than that. Searching this glowing Moon surface, our little lights, the
tiny local semaphore beams we had momentarily been using, could easily pass
unnoticed.
But as the
brigand ship approached now—dropping close to Archimedes as it probably
would—our danger was that Miko and his men would then signal it, join it, and
reveal the camp's location, and the brigand attack would be upon us.
I told this now
to Anita. "The signal said, 'Unless you can stop them.'"
It was an appeal
to me. But how could I respond to it? What could I do, alone out here with
Anita, to cope with this enemy?
Anita made no
comment.
I added,
"That ship will land near Archimedes I imagine, within an hour or two! If
Grantline can repair his portes, and I can get you inside—"
Again she made no
comment. Then suddenly she gripped me. "Gregg, look there!"
Out through the
gully break in our bowl the figure of Miko showed! He was running. But not at
us. Circling the summit, leaping to keep himself behind the upstanding crags.
He passed the head of the staircase; he did not descend it, but headed off
along the summit of the curving crater-rim.
I stood up to watch him. He was making off.
Abandoning us!
"He's
going!"
I let her stand
up beside me; cautiously, at first, for it occurred to me that this might be a
ruse to cover some other of Miko's men who might be lurking up here.
But the summit
seemed clear. The figure of Miko was a thousand feet away now. We could see the
tiny blob of it bobbing over the rocks. Then it plunged down—not into the
crater-valley, but out toward the open Moon surface.
Miko had
abandoned his attack on us. The reason seemed plain. He had come here from his
encampment with Coniston, had sent Coniston ahead to lure and kill Wilks. When
this was done, Coniston had flashed his brief signal to Miko, who was hiding
nearby.
It was not like
the brigand leader to remain in the background. Miko was no coward. But
Coniston could impersonate Wilks, whereas Miko's giant stature at once would
reveal his identity. Miko had been engaged in smashing the portes. He had
looked up and seen me kill Coniston. He had come up to assail me. And then he
had read Grantline's signal to me. It was his first knowledge that his ship was
at hand. With the camp exits inoperative, Grantline and his men were
imprisoned. Miko made an effort to kill me. He did not know my companion was
Anita. The effort was taking too long: with the Grantline camp imprisoned and
his ship at hand, it was Miko's best move to return to his own camp, rejoin his
men, and await their opportunity to signal the ship.
At least, so I
reasoned it. Anita and I stood alone. What could we do?
We went to the brink of the cliff. The unlighted
Grantline buildings showed vaguely in the Earthlight.
I said,
"We'll go down, I'll leave you there. You can wait at the porte. They'll
repair it soon, perhaps, and let you in."
"And what
will you do?" she demanded.
I was hurrying
her down the stairs. But suddenly she stopped. "What are you going to do,
Gregg?"
I had not
intended to tell her. "Hurry, Anita!"
"Why?"
She stood stock still. Through the visors I could see her white face gazing at
me rebelliously.
"Why should
I hurry, Gregg?"
"Because I
want to leave you at the porte. I'm going after Miko—try and locate where he
and his men are camping."
I had indeed no
specific plan as yet. But it seemed useless for me to sit at the porte waiting
to be let in.
"But he's
gone, Gregg."
She was right on
that. Miko was already a mile or more away, down on the outer surface, making
off. He would soon be out of sight. It would be impossible to follow him.
"Gregg, let
me go with you."
She jerked away
from me and bounded back up the staircase. I caught her on the summit.
"Anita!"
"I'm going
with you."
"You're
going to stay here."
"I'm
not!"
This exasperating
controversy! And time was so precious!
"Anita,
please."
"I'll be
safer with you than waiting here, Gregg."
It almost decided me. Perhaps she would. It was
only my intention to follow Miko at a distance. And with much more of this
delay here, he would be lost to me.
And she added,
"Besides, I won't stay, and you can't make me."
We ran along the
crater-top. At its distant edge the lower plain spread before us. Far down, and
far away on the distant broken surface, the leaping figure of Miko showed.
We plunged down
the broken outer slope, reached the level. Soon, as we ran, the little
Grantline crater faded behind us.
Anita ran more
skillfully than I. Ten minutes or so passed. We had seen Miko, and the
direction he was taking, but down here on the plain we could no longer see him.
It struck me that this was purposeless—and dangerous. Suppose Miko were to see
us following? Suppose he stopped and lay in ambush to fire at us as we came
leaping heedlessly by?
"Anita,
wait," I said, checking her.
I drew her down
amid a group of tumbled boulders. And then abruptly she clung to me.
"Gregg, I
know what we can do! Gregg, don't tell me you won't let me try it!"
I listened to her plan. Incredible! Incredibly
dangerous! Yet, as I pondered it, the very daring of the thing seemed the measure
of its possible success. The brigands would never imagine we could be so rash!
"But
Anita—"
"Gregg,
you're stupid!" It was her turn to be exasperated. In truth, I was indeed
in no mood for daring, for my mind was obsessed with Anita's safety. I had been
planning that we might see the glow of Miko's encampment, and then return to
Grantline and hope that he would have the portes repaired.
"But
Gregg—the safety of the treasure—of all the Grantline men..."
"To the
infernal with that! It's you—your safety."
"My safety,
then! If you put me in the camp and the brigands attack it and I am killed—what
then? But this plan of mine, if we can do it, Gregg ... safety, in the end, for
all of us."
And it seemed
possible. We crouched, discussing it. So daring a thing!
The brigand ship
would come down near Archimedes. That was fifty miles from Grantline. The
brigands from Mars would not have seen the dark Grantline buildings hidden in
the little crater-pit. They would wait for Miko and his men to make their whereabouts
known.
Miko's encampment was ahead of us now, undoubtedly.
We had been following him toward the Mare Imbrium; we were at its borders
now. Archimedes from here was also about fifty miles.
And Anita
proposed that we go to Archimedes, climb in slope and await the coming of the
brigand ship. Miko would be off in the Mare Imbrium. Or at least, we hoped so.
He would signal his ship. But Anita and I, closer to it, would also signal
it—and, posing as brigands, could join it!
"Remember,
Gregg, I am Anita Prince, George's sister." Her voice trembled as, she
mentioned her dead brother. "They know that George was in Miko's pay, and
I am his sister... It will help convince them."
This daring
scheme! If we could join the ship, we might be able to persuade its leader that
Miko's distant signals were merely a ruse of Grantline to lure the brigands in
that direction. A long-range projector from the ship would kill Miko and his
men as they came forward to join it! And then we could falsely direct the
brigands, lead them away from Grantline and the treasure.
"Gregg, we
must try it."
Heaven help me, I
yielded to her persuasion!
We turned at
right angles and ran toward where the distant frowning walls of Archimedes
loomed against the starlit sky.
CHAPTER XXVIII - The Ascent of
Archimedes
The broken shaggy ramparts of the giant crater rose
above us. We toiled upward, out of the foothills, clinging now to the crags and
pitted terraces of the main ascent. An hour had passed since we turned from the
borders of the Mare Imbrium. Or was it two hours? I could not tell. I only know
that we ran with desperate frantic haste.
Anita would not
admit that she was tired. She was more skilful than I in this leaping over the
broken rock masses. Yet I felt that her slight strength must give out. It
seemed miles up the undulating slopes of the foothills with the black and white
ramparts of the massive crater close before us.
And then the main
ascent. There were places where, like smooth black frozen ice, the walls rose
sheer. We avoided them, toiling aside, plunging into gullies, crossing pits
where sometimes we perforce went downwards, and then up again; or sometimes we
stood, hot and breathless, upon ledges, recovering our strength, selecting the
best route upward.
This tumbled mass
of rock! Honeycombed everywhere with caves and passages leading into darkness
impenetrable. There were pits into which we might so easily have fallen;
ravines to span, sometimes with a leap, sometimes by a long and arduous detour.
Endless climb! We
came to a ledge, with the plains of the Mare Imbrium stretching out beneath us.
We might have been upon this main ascent for an hour; the plains were far down,
the broken surface down there smoothed now by the perspective of our height.
And yet still above us the brooding circular wall went up into the sky. Ten
thousand feet still above us—I think it was at least that, or more.
"You're
tired, Anita. We'd better stay here."
"No! If we
could only get to the top—the ship may land on the other side—they would see us
if we were at the top."
There was as yet no sign of the brigand ship. With
every stop for rest we searched the starry vault. The Earth hung over us,
flattened beyond the full. The stars blazed to mingle with the Earthlight and
illumine these massive crags of the Archimedes walls. But no speck appeared to
tell us that the ship was up there.
We were on the
curving side of the Archimedes wall which fronted the Mare Imbrium to the
North. The plains lay like a great frozen sea, congealed ripples shining in the
light of the Earth, with dark patches to mark the hollows. Somewhere down
there—six or eight thousand feet below us now, or even more than that, for all
I could tell—Miko's encampment lay concealed. We searched for lights of it, but
could see none.
Or had Miko
rejoined his party, left his camp and come here like ourselves to climb
Archimedes? Or was our assumption wholly wrong—perhaps the brigand ship would
not land near here at all?
Sweeping around
from the Mare Imbrium, the plains were less smooth—the shattered,
crag-littered, crater-scarred region beyond which the distant Apennines raised
their terraced walls. The little crater which concealed the Grantline camp was
off that way. There was nothing to mark it from here.
"Gregg, do
you see anything up there? There seems to be a blur."
Her sight, sharper than mine, had picked it out.
The descending brigand ship! A faintest tiny blur against the stars, a few of
them occulted as though strangely an invisible shadow were upon them. A growing
shadow, materializing into a blur—a blob, a shape faintly defined. Then sharper
until we were sure of what we saw. It was the brigand ship. It came dropping
slowly, silently down.
We crouched on
the little ledge. A cave-mouth was behind us. A gully was beside us, a break in
the ledge; and at our feet the wall dropped sheer.
We had
extinguished our little lights. We crouched, silently gazing up into the stars.
The ship, when
first we distinguished it was central over Archimedes. We thought for a while
that it might descend into the crater. But it did not; it came sailing forward.
I whispered into
the audiphone—whispering by instinct, as though out here in all this airless
desolation someone might overhear us!
"It's coming
over the crater."
Her hand pressed
my arm in answer.
I recalled that
when, from the Planetara, Miko had forced Snap to signal this brigand band on
Mars, Miko's only information as to the whereabouts of the Grantline camp was
that it lay between Archimedes and the Apennines. That was Grantline's first
message to us, and Miko had relayed it to his men. The brigands from Mars now
were following that information.
A tense interval
passed. We could see the ship plainly above us now, a gray-black shape among
the stars up beyond the shaggy, towering crater-rim. The vessel came upon a
level keel, hull-down, slowly circling, looking for Miko's signal, no doubt, or
for possible lights of Grantline. They were also picking a landing place.
We saw it soon as a cylindrical, cigarlike shape,
rather smaller than the Planetara, but similar of design. It bore lights now.
The ports of its hull were tiny rows of illumination, and the glow of light
under its rounding upper dome was faintly visible.
A bandit ship, no
doubt of that. Its identification keel-plate was empty of official pass-code
lights. These brigands had not attempted to secure official sailing lights when
leaving Ferrok-Shahn. It was an outlawed ship, unmistakably. And here upon the
deserted Moon there was no need for secrecy. Its lights were openly displayed,
that Miko might see it and join it.
It went slowly
past us, only a few thousand feet higher than our level. We could see the whole
outline of its pointed cylinder-hull, with the rounded dome on top. And under
the dome was its open deck-space, with a little cabin superstructure in the
center.
I thought for a
moment that by some fortunate chance it might land quite near us. There was a
wide ledge a quarter of a mile away.
"Anita,
look."
But it went past.
And then I saw that it was heading for a level, plateau-like surface a few
miles further on. It dropped, cautiously floating down.
There was still
no sign of Miko. But I realized that haste was necessary. We must be the first
to join the brigand ship.
I lifted Anita to
her feet. "I don't think we should signal from here."
"No. Miko
might see it."
We could not tell
where he was. Down on the plains, perhaps? Or up here, somewhere in these miles
of towering rocks?
"Are you
ready, Anita?"
"Yes,
Gregg."
I stared
through the visors at her white, solemn face.
"Yes, I'm
ready," she repeated.
Her hand-pressure
seemed to me suddenly like a farewell. Were we plunging rashly into what was
destined to mean our death? Was this a farewell?
An instinct swept
me not to do this thing. Why, in an hour or two I could have Anita back to the
comparative safety of the Grantline buildings. The exit portes would doubtless
be repaired by now. I could get her inside.
She had bounded
away from me, leaped down some thirty feet into the broken gully, to cross it
and then up on the other side. I stood for an instant watching her fantastic
shape, with the great rounded, goggled, trunked helmet and the lump on her
shoulders which held the little Erentz motors. Then I made after her.
It did not take
us long—two or three miles of circling along the giant wall. The ship lay only
a few hundred feet above our level.
We stood at last
on a buttelike pinnacle. The hull-porte lights of the ship were close over us.
And there were moving lights up there, tiny moving spots on the adjacent rocks.
The brigands had come out, prowling around to investigate their location.
No signal yet
from Miko. But it might come at any moment.
"I'll flash
now," I whispered.
"Yes."
The brigands had
probably not yet seen us. I took the lamp from my helmet. My hand was
trembling. Suppose my signal were answered by a shot? A flash from some giant
projector mounted on the ship?
Anita crouched
behind a rock, as she had promised. I stood with my torch, and flung its
switch.
My puny
light-beam shot up. I waved it, touched the ship with its faint glowing circle
of illumination.
They saw me.
There was a sudden movement among the lights up there.
I semaphored:
"I am from
Miko. Do not fire."
I used the open
Universal Code. In Martian first, and then in English.
There was no
answer, but no attack. I tried again.
"This is
Haljan, once of the Planetara. George Prince's sister is with me. There has
been disaster to Miko."
A small
light-beam came down from the brink of the overhead cliff beside the ship.
"We read
you."
I went steadily
on: "Disaster—the Planetara is wrecked. All killed but me and George
Prince's sister. We want to join you."
I flashed off my
light. The answer came: "Where is the Grantline camp?"
"Near here.
The Mare Imbrium."
As though to
answer my lie, from down on the Earthlit plains, ten miles or so from the
crater-base, a tiny signal-light shot up. Anita saw it and gripped me.
"There is
Miko's light!"
It spelled in
Martian, "Come down. Land Mare Imbrium."
Miko had seen the
signalling up here and was joining it! He repeated, "Land Mare
Imbrium."
I flashed a protest up to the ship: "Beware!
That is Grantline! Trickery!"
From the ship the
summons came: "Come up."
We had won this
first encounter! Miko must have realized his disadvantage. His distant light
went out.
"Come,
Anita."
There was no
retreat now. But again I seemed to feel in the pressure of her hand that vague
farewell.
Her voice
whispered, "We must do our best, act our best to be convincing."
In the white glow
of a search-beam we climbed the crags, reached the broad upper ledge. Helmeted
figures rushed at us, searched us for weapons, seized our helmet lights. The
evil face of a giant Martian peered at me through the visors. Two other
monstrous, towering figures seized Anita.
We were shoved
toward the port-locks at the base of the ship's hull. Above the hull bulge I
could see the grids of projectors mounted in the dome-side, and the figures of
men standing on the deck, peering down at us.
We went through
the admission locks into a hull corridor, up an incline passage, and reached
the lighted deck. Our helmets were taken off. The Martian brigands crowded
around us.
CHAPTER XXIX - On the Brigand
Ship
Anita's words echoed in my memory: "We must
act our best to be convincing." It was not her ability that I doubted as
much as my own. She had played the part of George Prince cleverly, unmasked
only by an evil chance.
I steeled myself
to face the searching glances of the brigands as they shoved around us. This
was a desperate game into which we had plunged! For all our acting, how easy it
would be for some small chance thing abruptly to undo us! I realized it, and
now, as I gazed into the peering faces of these men from Mars, I cursed my
witless rashness which had brought Anita into this!
The brigands—some
ten or fifteen of them here on the deck—stood in a ring around us. They were
all big men, nearly of a seven-foot average, dressed in leather jerkins and
short leather breeches, with bare knees and flaring leatherboots. Piratical
swaggering fellows, knife-blades mingled with small hand-projectors fastened to
their belts. Gray, heavy faces, some with scraggling, unshaved beard. They
plucked at us, jabbering in Martian.
One of them
seemed the leader. I said sharply, "Are you the commander here? I speak
not Ilton[4] well. You speak the Earth English?"
Yes," he said readily, "I am
Commander here." He spoke English with the same freedom and accent of Miko.
"Is this George Prince's sister?"
"Yes. Her
name is Anita Prince. Tell your men to take their hands off her."
He waved his men
away. They all seemed more interested in Anita than in me. He added:
"I am Set
Potan." He addressed Anita. "George Prince's sister? You are called
Anita? I have heard of you. I knew your brother—indeed, you look very much like
him."
He swept his
plumed hat to the grid with a swaggering gesture of homage. A courtierlike
fellow this, debonair as a Venus cavalier!
He accepted us. I
realized that Anita's presence was immensely valuable in making us convincing.
Yet there was about this Potan—as with Miko—a disturbing suggestion of irony. I
could not make him out. I decided that we had fooled him. Then I remarked the
steely glitter of his eyes as he turned to me.
"You were an
officer of the Planetara?"
The insignia of my rank was visible on my white
jacket-collar which showed beneath the Erentz suit, now that my helmet was off.
"Yes, I was
supposed to be. But a year ago I embarked upon this adventure with
Miko."
He was leading us
to his cabin. "The Planetara wrecked? Miko dead?"
"And Hahn
and Coniston. George Prince, too—we are the only survivors."
While we divested
ourselves of our Erentz suits at his command, I told him briefly of the
Planetara's fall. All had been killed on board save Anita and me. We had
escaped, awaited his coming. The treasure was here; we had located the
Grantline camp, and were ready to lead him to it.
Did he believe
me? He listened quietly. He seemed not shocked at the death of his comrades.
Nor yet pleased: merely imperturbable.
I added with a
sly, sidelong glance, "There were too many of us on the Planetara. The
purser had joined us, and many of the crew. And there was Miko's sister, the
Setta Moa—too many. The treasure divides better among less."
An amused smile
played on his thin gray lips. But he nodded. The fear which had leaped in me
was allayed by his next words.
"True
enough, Haljan. He was a domineering fellow, Miko. A third of it all was for
him alone. But now..."
The third would
go to this sub-leader, Potan! The implication was obvious.
I said,
"Before we go any further—I can trust you for my share?"
"Of
course."
I figured that my very boldness in bargaining so
prematurely would convince him. I insisted, "And Miss Prince? She will
have her brother's share?"
Clever Anita! She
put in swiftly, "I give no information until you promise! We know the
location of the Grantline camp, its weapons, its defense, the amount and
location of the ore. I warn you, if you do not play us fair..."
He laughed
heartily. He seemed to like us. He spread his huge legs as he lounged in his
settle, and drank of the bowl which one of his men set before him.
"Little
tigress! Fear me not—I play fair!" He pushed two of the bowls across the
table. "Drink, Haljan. All is well with us, and I am glad to hear it. Miss
Prince, drink my health as your leader."
I waved it away
from Anita. "We need all our wits; your strong Martian drinks are
dangerous. Look here, I'll tell you just how the situation stands—"
I plunged into a
glib account of our supposed wanderings to find the Grantline camp; its
location off in the Mare Imbrium—hidden in a cavern there. Potan, with the
drink, and under the gaze of Anita's eyes, was in a high good humor. He laughed
when I told him that we had dared to invade the Grantline camp, had smashed its
exit portes, had even gotten up to have a look at where the ore was piled.
"Well done,
Haljan! You're a fellow to my liking!" But his gaze was on Anita.
"You dress like a man, or a charming boy."
She still wore
the dark clothes of her brother. She said, "I am used to action—man's garb
pleases me. You shall treat me like a man, give me my share of the
gold-leaf."
He had already demanded of us the meaning of that
signal from the Mare Imbrium. Miko's signal! It had not come again, though any
moment I feared it. I told him that Grantline had doubtless repaired his
damaged portes and sallied out to assail me in reprisal. And seeing the brigand
ship landing on Archimedes, had tried to lure it.
I wondered if my
explanation were very convincing. It did not sound so. But he was flushed now
with the drink. And Anita added:
"Grantline
knows the territory near his camp very well. He is equipped only for short-range
fighting."
I took it up.
"It's like this, Potan: if he could get you to land unsuspectingly near
the mouth of his cavern..."
I pictured how
Grantline might have figured on a sudden surprise attack upon the ship. It was
his only chance to catch it unprepared.
We were all three
in friendly, intimate mood now. Potan said, "We'll land down there right
enough! But I need a few hours for my assembling."
"He will not
dare advance," I said. "For one thing, he can't leave the
treasure."
"He knows we
have unmasked his lure," Anita put in smilingly. "Haljan and I
joining you—that silenced him. His light went out very promptly, didn't
it?"
She flashed me a
side-gaze. Were we acting convincingly? But if Miko started up his signals
again, they might so quickly betray us! Anita's thoughts were upon that, for
she added:
"Grantline
will not dare show his light! If he does, Set Potan, we can blast him with a
ray from here! Can't we?"
"Yes,"
Potan agreed. "If he comes within ten miles, I have one powerful enough.
We are assembling it now."
"And we have
thirty men?" Anita persisted. "When we sail down to attack him it
should not be very difficult to kill all the Grantline party. Thirty of
us—that's enough to share in this treasure. I'm glad Miko is dead."
"By Heaven,
Haljan, this girl of yours is small, but very blood-thirsty!"
"That
accursed Miko murdered her brother," I explained.
Acting! And never once did we dare relax! If only
Miko's signals would hold off and give us time!
We may have
talked for half an hour. We were in a small, steel-lined cubby, located in the
forward deck-space of the ship. The dome was over it. I could see from where I
sat at the table that there was a forward observatory tower under the dome
quite near here. The ship was laid out in rather similar fashion to the
Planetara, though considerably smaller.
Potan had
dismissed his men from his cubby so as to be alone with us. Out on the deck I
could see them dragging apparatus about—bringing the mechanisms of giant
projectors up from below, beginning to assemble them. Occasionally some of the
men would come to our cubby windows to peer in at us curiously.
My mind was
roaming as I talked. For all my manner of casualness, I knew that haste was
necessary. Whatever Anita and I were to do must be quickly done. But to win
this fellow's utter confidence first was necessary, so that we might have the
freedom of the ship, might move about unnoticed, unwatched.
I was horribly
tense inside. Through the dome windows across the deck from the cubby the rocks
of the Lunar landscape were visible. I could see the brink of this ledge upon
which the ship lay, the descending crags down the precipitous wall of
Archimedes to the Earthlit plains far below. Miko, Moa, and a few of the
Planetara's crew were down there somewhere.
Anita and I had a fairly definite plan. We were now
in Potan's confidence. With this interview at an end, I felt that our status
among the brigands would be established. We would be free to move about the
ship, join in its activities. It ought to be possible to locate the
signal-room, get friendly with the operator there.
Perhaps we would
find a secret opportunity to flash a signal to Earth. This ship, I was
confident, would have the power for a long-range signal, if not of too
sustained a length. It was a desperate thing to attempt but our whole procedure
was desperate! And I felt—if Anita perhaps could cajole the guard or the
duty-man from the signal-room—I might send a single flash or two that would
reach the Earth. Just a distress call, signed "Grantline." If I could
do that and not get caught.
Anita was
engaging Potan in talking of his plans. The brigand leader was boasting of his
well-equipped ship, the daring of his men, and questioning her about the size
of the treasure. My thoughts were free to roam.
A signal to
Earth. And while we were making friends with these brigands, the longest range
electronic projector was being assembled. Miko then could flash his signal and
be damned to him! I would be on the deck with that projector. Its operator, and
I would turn it upon Miko—one flash of it and he and his little band would be
wiped out.
But there was our
escape to be thought of. We could not remain very long with these brigands. We
could tell them that the Grantline camp was on the Mare Imbrium. It would delay
them for a time, but our lie would soon be discovered. We must escape from
them, get away and back to Grantline. With Miko dead—a distress signal to
Earth—and Potan in ignorance of Grantline's location, the treasure would be safe
until help arrived from Earth.
It all fitted
together so nicely! It seemed possible of success.
Our futile plans!
Star-crossed always, doomed, fated always to be upset by such unforeseen evil
chances!
"By the
infernal, little Anita, you look like a dove, but you're a tigress! A comrade
after my own heart—blood-thirsty as a fire-worshipper!"
Her laugh rang out to mingle with his. "Oh no,
Set Potan! I am treasure-thirsty."
"We'll get
the treasure, never fear, little Anita."
"With you to
lead us, Potan, I'm sure we will."
A man entered the
cubby. Potan looked frowningly around. "What is it, Argle?"
The fellow
answered in Martian, leered at Anita and withdrew.
Potan stood up. I
noticed that he was unsteady with the drink.
"They want
me with the work at the projectors."
"Go
ahead," I said.
He nodded. We
were comrades now.
"Amuse
yourself, Haljan. Or come out on deck if you wish. I will tell my men you are
one of us."
"And tell
them to keep their hands off Miss Prince."
He stared at me.
"I had not thought of that—a woman among so many men."
His own gaze at
Anita was as leeringly offensive as any of his men could have given. He said,
"Have no fear, little tigress."
Anita laughed.
"I am afraid of nothing."
But when he had
lurched from the cabin she touched me. Smiled with her mannish swagger, for
fear we were still observed, and murmured:
"Oh, Gregg,
I am afraid!"
We stayed in the
cubby a few moments, whispering—trying to plan.
"You think
the signal room is in the tower, Gregg? This tower outside our window
here?"
"Yes, I
think so."
"Shall we go
out and see?"
"Yes. Keep
near me always."
"Oh, Gregg.
I will!"
We deposited our
Erentz suits carefully in a corner of the cubby. We might need them so
suddenly! Then we swaggered out to join the brigands working on the deck.
[4] Ilton, the ruling race and official language of the Martian Union.
[4] Ilton, the ruling race and official language of the Martian Union.
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